Former NASA chief of staff returns to lead agency launch operations

Former NASA chief of staff returns to lead agency launch operations

NASA’s former chief of staff has returned to the agency in a new role overseeing launch operations, a move that raised some concerns on Capitol Hill.

NASA’s Launch Director Pick Turns Political

NASA’s new launch director pick—a former space agency chief of staff—quickly turned into the latest political divide plaguing the nation’s space program.  Return of the chief: Brian Hughes, who will serve as NASA’s first senior launch operations director, was the space agency’s chief of staff from May to December, departing the agency once Administrator Jared Isaacman took over.  Before that, Hughes served as the White House deputy national sec…

NASA just put a political operative with zero space experience in charge of launch operations at Kennedy — and the quiet part is what it signals about who actually runs the agency now

NASA has placed Brian Hughes, its former chief of staff, in charge of the agency’s two largest launch sites. Hughes has no background in spaceflight engineering, civil space launch operations, or running a launch range. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served as a KC-135 aircrew member during the Gulf War, and his career since has run through Florida municipal government, Trump campaign work, and White House communications. The appointment has…

NASA leadership shakeup could impact future launch operations at Wallops Island

NASA has appointed former chief of staff Brian Hughes as senior director of launch operations, a newly created role that will oversee launch operations at both the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The move could have significant implications for the future of launch activity at Wallops Island, particularly as NASA and ...